Borough parking permit claims are 'untrue'

Last month the Chronicle reported on Hammersmith and Fulham's decision to freeze the

price of resident parking permits and parking charges. In doing so it repeated the council's claim

that at £119, permits in the borough were £181 less than the most expensive London borough,

Islington.

This is untrue. Charge for resident parking permits in Islington - as in Camden and Kensington - are

based on Co2 emissions. Most Islington residents pay significantly less - and many, dramatically

less - than residents in Hammersmith and Fulham.

Permits can cost as little as £14 or £20. Few Islington residents pay more for their permits than the £119 charged in Hammersmith and Fulhamand even then, the extra cost is rarely anything like the £181 claimed. An Islington permit for a three litre diesel Jaguar XF, for example, would be £126, just £7 more than the £119 charged in

Hammersmith and Fulham.

Islington residents also pay much less for visitor parking. At £0.73 or £0.80 an hour

(depending on the length of the voucher used) the cost is less than half that charged in

Hammersmith and Fulham (£1.80 an hour). For residents over 60 the cost is halved again.

Those with new babies get 40 hours of free parking for visitors. Between 11am and

3pm Islington residents can park free of charge, almost anywhere in the borough.

It is, sadly, Hammersmith's parking charges for residents and their visitors which are among